Sony’s WH-CH720N wireless noise-canceling headphones are an affordable alternative to the company’s flagship WH-1000XM5 for those who cannot justify the $330 price tag. I purchased a pair and tested them for several days to determine whether you should buy them or if the low price prevents them from achieving the benefits found on their more expensive models.
Key Takeaways:
- Lightweight and mostly comfortable design.
- Durability could be improved. There’s no water protection offered.
- Long-lasting battery life with quick recharge time.
- Additional features are made available through the Sony Sound Connect.
WH-CH720N
The Bottom Line
Sony’s WH-CH720N is an affordable wireless ANC headphone with decent performance and modern features. However, it’s not very durable, making it better suited to at-home use than similar alternatives that may be more sturdy or portable. If you can find it available for under $60, it becomes appealing and outperforms most other models in that price range.
What I Like:
- Affordable price point.
- Lightweight design.
- Long-lasting battery.
- Mobile app support with custom EQ.
What I Don’t Like:
- The thin plastic feels cheap.
- Some of the features are locked behind app paywalls.
- Volume and play buttons take some getting used to.
Design, Build, & Durability
Made almost entirely from relatively thin plastic, they can feel a little cheap. However, they aren’t necessarily badly designed, just limited in their use. The fact that they aren’t very durable makes them better suited for at home use, or outdoors in sunny weather.
A Classic Design, Available in 3 Colors
The Sony WH-CH720N has a minimalistic design, with branding limited to the sides of the headband. This leaves the earcups looking crisp and clean. They aren’t exactly on the same level as the XM5, but they’re subtle enough to wear out in public without feeling like a walking billboard.
They come in three colors (white, blue, and black), and I opted for the white version. It should be noted that the white is more of an off-white, almost a light gray rather than being snow white.
Their extremely light weight makes them versatile and also aids in their comfort, which I’ll discuss further below.
Lightweight, Plastic Design May Be Prone To Damage
Apart from the headband extension, padding, and internal components, these headphones are all plastic and they feel a little flimsy in the hand – more so than the JBL Tune 770NC, which I also recently tested.
I think they’re fine for general use, but don’t foresee them lasting many drops or being accidentally stood on. This is especially true for the earcups, which can swivel, but only from side to side and up to a certain point. I imagine putting pressure on them with the earcup locked in rotation can easily cause breakage at the hinge.
This type of build isn’t uncommon for these types of headphones, especially since many customers favor low weight, but it is something one should take note of and apply precautionary measures. We all know how easy it is to accidentally sit down on your headphones after leaving them on the couch.
If you opt for the white colorway, just keep in mind that they are prone to collecting dirt – so you’ll want to wash them off somewhat regularly, especially if you’re wearing them out in public.
Lack Of Waterproofing Makes The Sony WH-CH720N A Fair-Weather Headphone
The Sony WH-CH720N is by no means waterproof. Sony even advises against excessive sweat, making them less effective for exercise.
This is fairly common for these types of noise-canceling headphones, where manufacturers are giving primary focus to features, performance, and affordability. But still, some sweat resistance wouldn’t hurt.
Lack Of Folding Earcups Limits Portability
Portability is a mixed bag, as the light design makes them very easy to carry around – but they do not fold up, reducing how easy it is to take them out of the house. It’s almost easier to keep them around your neck than it is to place them in a bag, especially given some of the concerns around the more plastic design and limited earcup swivel.
If you’re someone who frequently takes their headphones around in a backpack or bag, the JBL Tune 770NC offers a more compact alternative.
Comfort Levels That Vary Depending On Head Size And Ear Shape
I found the comfort levels quite good, as the headband is fairly wide and caters to most head sizes. There also isn’t much clamping force. It’s enough to keep the headphones firmly in place, even with quick head movements, but still gentle on the areas around the ear.
If you have large ears, you may find that the narrow earcup padding doesn’t give enough distance from the inner earcup, and I found that sometimes I’d feel the inside of the earcup press against the top of my ear.
The headband padding is broad enough to be suitable for most head shapes, especially for younger adults and teens, but adults with large and flatter head shapes may find the headband more uncomfortable.
The earcup padding is decent, but the padding is prone to getting sticky after long periods of use.
Controls & Connectivity
The intuitive controls are great, but could be slightly improved, especially with differentiating the volume and play buttons when they’re out of sight. Bluetooth holds a wireless connection even across a couple rooms, but the latency has room for improvement.
Easy To Use Controls, But They Aren’t Perfect
Controls on the WH-CH720N are intuitive and comprehensive. However, the fact that the volume buttons and play buttons are the same height makes it a little tricky to initially figure out which button you’re touching.
Left Earcup Buttons: Power On/Power Off
Right Earcup Buttons: Volume Up, Volume Down, Play/Pause, and NC/AMB
The play/pause button also acts as a multi-function button:
- Tap twice to skip tracks
- Tap three times to skip backwards
- Hold to activate
Excellent Connectivity, Even At Range, But Latency Could Be Better
With Bluetooth 5.2 support, they provide competitive performance with most similarly priced wireless noise-canceling headphones. However, like most others in this price range, there isn’t support for low-latency codecs like aptX-LL or LDAC, which limits its performance.
However, I found that when I used to watch videos on my phone, there were only minimal sync problems that most users wouldn’t pick up on.
They do an excellent job at retaining a stable connection though, and I was able to retain a clear signal at more than 20 feet, even through brick walls, which is something I find even most Bluetooth speakers aren’t able to do.
You may have some issues getting the headphones paired initially, as my phone wouldn’t pick it up through the native Android Bluetooth scanner. I had to install the Sony Connect app and pair them that way.
Sound Quality
A bright and vibrant sound, with recessed mids only sounds decent out of the box, however, with some custom EQ bringing life to the vocals – it’s relatively easy to get them to sound good. The 360 Reality Audio is a cool feature, but requires paid apps to use effectively.
A Bright And Lively Sound, Made Better By Some EQ Adjustments
People may be split over the default sound on these headphones. They have a distinct ‘v-shape’ tuning, emphasizing bass and brightness, leaving the mids more recessed. This causes some vocals to sound too far back in the mix and slightly drowned out by brighter sounds and heavier bass elements.
With that said, since they only have 30mm drivers, even when bass is emphasized, it’s not particularly deep and doesn’t have as much depth as a larger series of drivers would provide.
This type of tuning is very likable for the average music enthusiast looking for a fun and lively sound, but isn’t great for those seeking a balanced sound, which is more natural. Balanced sound is something typically more sought after by audiophiles, for whom these headphones are not designed.
Their sound is especially well-suited to hip-hop, dance, and pop music.
Since the Sony Connect app gives access to both preset and custom EQ, you can easily adjust the out-of-the-box sound and make it sound more in line with your own personal preferences.
I found that with some tweaks and raising the mids, I was able to get more life into the vocals and create a more comprehensively good sound.
360 Reality Audio, But Only If You Pay More
If you’re looking to make these headphones more immersive, there’s the option for 360 Reality Audio, a feature where you can take photos of your ear shape and submit them through the app to customize the sound to your ear.
However, you need to use it with a supported app that requires an additional subscription, which seems counter-intuitive when these headphones are aimed more towards cost-conscious consumers.
Noise Canceling That Effectively Removes Low-Droning Ambient Sounds
There are two settings for noise-canceling, toggled by the NC/AMB button on the earcup. With NC active, they do a decent job of reducing environmental noise in all frequency ranges, while the AMB mode gives full awareness of your surroundings.
Having tested them in a room close to two fans, I was able to notice a distinct difference between having the NC on and off, as the noise-cancelation removed much of the low droning. This allows the listener to focus more on the music. However, they are less effective with high-pitched noises, which can still cut through the noise cancellation.
Included Cables & Chargers
The Sony WH-CH720N comes with two cables, a short USB-C charging cable and a 1.25m audio cable. This is fine for most uses but may be too short to work effectively on a PC setup, depending on where your case is located.
Since Sony uses a standard 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable, you can easily find alternative after-market options that are longer than the one included. This will make it easier to use on consoles, PCs, and laptops.
Gain Access To Additional Features Through The Sony Sound Connect App
Installing the Sony Connect app gives a lot of new features that aren’t available when using the physical controls. Here are a few of the features you’ll get access to when using the app:
- Battery life indicator
- Ambient sound control
- Custom and preset EQs
- Adaptive sound control
- Multi-device connection
- Track/Playback information
- Bluetooth priority
- 360 Reality audio
Most important is arguably the custom and preset EQ, which adds a level of control around the speaker’s sound. You can either swap between the EQ presets and find one that matches what you are looking for, or use the custom 5-band EQ to dial in the sound exactly to your liking. You can also save up to 2 custom settings to quickly toggle between.
I found they sounded best with the following EQ setting (but keep in mind, this is subjective):
400 Hz: +2
1kHz: +2
2.5 kHz: +5
6.3 kHz: +1
16 kHz: +1
Long-Lasting Battery With Fast Charging
Battery performance is excellent on these headphones. With noise-canceling on, I managed to get 36 hours of playtime from them, exceeding Sony’s advertising of 35 hours. This is increased to up to 50 hours with ANC disabled, giving literal days of playtime before needing to be recharged.
When it is time to recharge, it’s an extremely quick process and I found that I could bring them back up to full charge from a depleted state in less than 2.5 hours.
Value For Money
At around $100, there are only a handful of noise-canceling headphones worth considering and this is certainly one of them. The biggest strengths are its stylish design and comfort, but when it comes to sound quality and build – I’d recommend the JBL Tune 770NC ahead of the Sony WH-720N. They’re significantly more compact since they can fold up and sound marginally better.
With that said, if you’re a fan of Sony headphones and want a reliable pair of noise-canceling cans for the office or around the house, the Sony WH-720N is worth considering.
Sony WH-CH720N
Sony's WH-CH720N is an affordable wireless ANC headphone with decent performance and modern features. However, it's not very durable, making it better suited to at-home use than similar alternatives that may be more sturdy or portable. If you can find it available for under $60, it becomes appealing and outperforms most other models in that price range.
Product Brand: Sony
3.7
Pros
- Affordable price point.
- Lightweight design.
- Long-lasting battery.
- Mobile app support with custom EQ.
Cons
- The thin plastic feels cheap.
- Some of the features are locked behind app paywalls.
- Volume and play buttons take some getting used to.
